1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a patient-moving device whereby it is possible to move a bedridden person (hereinafter referred to as a "patient") from the bed without applying burdens on the patient or without relying on an attendant for assistance, and more particularly to such a moving device which is configured so as to be movable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are persons who because of bodily infirmities require assistance in their daily activities such as eating meals, bathing, moving their bowels, or undergoing therapy.
Devices for moving such persons from the bed bed without applying burdens on the patient or without relying on an attendant for assistance have already been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,947,902, 4,680,818, and Japanese Patent Public Disclosure SHO No. 61(1986)-135656. These devices consist of a horizontal base plate resting on a means of locomotion such as a truck, and a loading-unloading device which is located on this horizontal base plate and which contains an insertion plate which can be moved out from and into the horizontal base plate. From a position at the side of the bed where the patient is lying, the insertion plate is first inserted between the bed and the patient. Then the insertion plate, with the patient resting thereon, is moved onto the aforesaid base plate, thus moving the patient onto the means of locomotion. The opposite procedure is carried out in order to move the patient from the insertion plate onto the bed.
Such loading-unloading devices, by utilizing driving means such as motors for driving the insertion plate in and out, contributes not only to alleviating the burden on the attendant, but also to automating the work.
These loading-unloading devices can move the patient from the bed onto the insertion plate or from the insertion plate onto the bed, but no particular considerations were incorporated concerning the patient's position on the bed during loading.
That is, since there is limited space between the sides of beds positioned in rows in hospitals or other institutions where these patient-moving devices are to be used, this fact imposes intrinsic limitations also on the widths of the moving devices. In actual fact, an adult's hospital bed is usually around one meter in width, and the moving devices must be made quite narrow in width, around 50-60 cm.
On the other hand, the patient is not always lying in the center of the bed or on the side accessible to the moving device. Therefore, when the insertion plate cannot reach the patient on the bed even when the insertion plate has been extended all the way out from the loading-unloading device, it will still be necessary for the attendant to pick up the patient and to move him or her within the range on the bed where the insertion plate can reach.
The series of operations whereby the insertion plate is extended and inserted between the patient and the bed, and after the patient has been placed on the extended insertion plate, the plate is retracted and brought back onto the horizontal base plate, is performed by driving means such as motors. In this case, the load on the driving means will differ greatly when the patient is not on the insertion plate an after the patient is placed on the insertion plate and the patient's weight is applied onto the plate. In the aforesaid loading-unloading devices of the past, no consideraton at all was given to these changes in the loads applied to the driving means. Therefore, they had certain drawbacks, such as the fact that excessive strains were applied on the driving means and the fact that the devices were complicated to operate.
Furthermore, patients loaded onto the insertion plate in a recumbent position must sometimes be put into a seated position or returned from the seated position to the recumbent position on the insertion plate. Since the insertion plates in the aforesaid loading-unloading devices of the past are as long as a patient's height, assistance of an attendant is necessary in order to change the patient's position in this way, and, when the patient is in a seated position, an attendant must support the patient at all times in order to maintain this position. Moreover, since the insertion plates are as long as a patient's height, large loads are also applied to the driving devices of the insertion plates, and this is not desirable.
In this way, the moving devices of the past still have various problems requiring improvement and cannot be said to be perfect, even though they are able to lessen the burden on the attendants to some degree.